‘Scary Movie 6’ First Reactions – The Wayans Are Back, But Did They Stick the Landing?

Thirteen years is a long time to sit with a punchline, and somehow the horror parody franchise everyone assumed was dead has clawed its way out of the ground. ‘Scary Movie 6’ arrived exclusively in theaters on June 5, a date that Paramount actually moved up by a full week from the originally scheduled June 12, citing overwhelming response and worldwide excitement. The return has been anything but quiet, and the early critical noise reflects exactly the kind of chaotic, split-room energy the franchise has always inspired.

The film follows the “Core Four” as Ghostface returns to haunt Cindy Campbell and her estranged daughters, and no horror movie IP is spared along the way. The premise is simple, the ambition is broad, and the first wave of reactions suggests the results are about as uneven as you might expect from a franchise that has always lived and died by the quality of its individual gags.

The Wayans Family Return and What It Means for the Franchise

The film reunites the Wayans family with several stars from the original films, with Keenen Ivory Wayans rejoining his brothers to help write the script alongside Marlon, Shawn, Craig Wayans, and Rick Alvarez. That creative reunion alone was enough to generate real buzz, given that the Wayans’ departure after ‘Scary Movie 2’ was widely seen as the moment the franchise lost its sharpest comic instincts.

Director Michael Tiddes, who has never helmed a ‘Scary Movie‘ installment but became a key Wayans collaborator in the decades since, does a solid job reminding viewers why these performers became comedy icons in the first place. The familiarity between the cast translates on screen, even if it does not always translate into consistent laughs.

Anna Faris and Regina Hall said in a joint statement about their return: “We can’t wait to bring Brenda and Cindy back to life and be reunited with our great friends Keenen, Shawn and Marlon, three men we’d literally die for (in Brenda’s case, again).” That warmth clearly carries into the actual film, with multiple early reviewers noting that the chemistry between the legacy cast feels genuinely intact.

Faris remains the MVP as Cindy Campbell, finding surprising ways to make bland or flat jokes at least feel sincere, even as she steps into the aging slasher survivor archetype made famous by Jamie Lee Curtis in ‘Halloween’.

What ‘Scary Movie 6’ Is Actually Parodying

‘Scary Movie 6’ is a full-blown spoof packed with parodies of horror films including ‘Sinners,’ ‘Weapons,’ ‘Get Out,’ ‘M3GAN,’ ‘Final Destination,’ ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer,’ and many more. The sheer volume of reference material on offer is one of the film’s genuine strengths, since a thirteen-year gap in the franchise means there is no shortage of modern horror to lampoon.

The film touches on ‘M3GAN,’ ‘Smile,’ ‘Candyman,’ ‘Longlegs,’ ‘The Substance,’ ‘Sinners,’ ‘Get Out,’ ‘Weapons,’ and more, resulting in a weirdly awards-heavy selection that feels best suited to Paramount’s taste. Some critics have taken issue with what the film does not parody as much as what it does, pointing to the absence of streaming horror, Blumhouse staples, and internet-era horror as conspicuous blind spots.

These parodies do not always hit the mark, but the gags fly by fast enough that it sometimes does not matter, and a parody of ‘The Substance’ that at first feels like the filmmakers have never seen the original eventually delivers an unexpected punchline that earns audible laughs. Art the Clown also makes an appearance, and the film even finds room to shout out Emerald Fennell’s ‘Saltburn,’ which suggests the writers cast their net at least somewhat wider than the obvious targets.

The Hit-or-Miss Comedy and Early Critical Divide

The first reactions landing on social media have painted a fairly consistent picture, even from reviewers coming at the film from very different angles. The comedy is acknowledged as wildly inconsistent, with some sequences genuinely landing and others falling painfully flat.

One reviewer argued that the new ‘Scary Movie’ is probably the funniest entry in the series, at least since the original, which given the franchise’s sharp decline across its middle installments is a meaningful piece of praise. The Prague Reporter similarly noted it lands as the best in the franchise since the year 2000 original, with enough genuine laughs to make the comeback feel worthwhile despite the rough patches.

Not every voice has been as generous. IndieWire’s review suggests the film reads less like a parody of real movie culture and more like a vague representation of what some Hollywood executives think modern horror is, arguing that its cultural narrowing extends beyond pop culture and deep into politics. That tension between creative freedom and corporate curation appears to be one of the more interesting fault lines running through the critical conversation.

Legacy Cast Chemistry vs. Dated Humor

Marlon’s weed-obsessed Shorty Meeks and Shawn’s not-gay-but-definitely-gay Ray Wilkins struggle to find their comedic sweet spot in arcs that feel dated compared to the rest of the Wayans’ script. The film’s newer additions, including Damon Wayans Jr. and SNL alum Heidi Gardner, bring some fresh energy, though early reactions suggest the film leans heavily on nostalgia rather than trusting its new cast members to carry full sequences.

The franchise’s comedy has never been about targeting one group, with Marlon Wayans emphasizing that it is about equal opportunity absurdity and that ‘Scary Movie 6’ continues that tradition. Whether audiences agree with that framing will depend largely on what they bring into the theater with them. The film’s trailer generated controversy for a pronoun joke that many called dated, and the full film appears to carry that same willingness to provoke throughout its runtime.

The ‘Scary Movie’ franchise has grossed nearly 900 million dollars worldwide across its five previous installments and received mixed reviews from critics throughout its run. A genuinely divided critical response is not a new experience for this series, and it has never stopped audiences from showing up.

Should You See It in Theaters?

For longtime fans of the original two films, ‘Scary Movie 6’ appears to offer enough genuine nostalgia and actual laughs to justify a trip to the cinema. The first installment in the franchise since 2013’s ‘Scary Movie 5’ and the first from the Wayans family since 2001’s ‘Scary Movie 2’ is packed with rapid-fire gags, many of which fall flat, but there are enough genuine laughs here to make this a welcome return.

It has been thirteen years since ‘Scary Movie 5,’ which means there is a huge backlog of horror movies to lampoon, and the film mostly riffs on the “requel” trend where overdue sequels act as a brand new chapter and quasi-remake. That meta-awareness of franchise filmmaking is one of the more clever threads running through the comedy, even if the execution is inconsistent.

The broader picture is of a film that is exactly what it promises to be and nothing more. Crude, cheerful, nostalgic, and genuinely funny in patches. Whether that is enough to satisfy you may come down to a very simple question: how much did the original ‘Scary Movie’ mean to you in the first place?

If you were there for Cindy and Brenda the first time around, there is real joy in watching them together again, and we would love to know whether that reunion alone was enough to win you over or whether the hit-or-miss gags left you wanting more from this long-awaited comeback.